Spring Hill anticipates growth

SPRING HILL — Growing local businesses and improving city transportation in 2014 are two of the main goals Spring Hill leaders outlined in a "State of the City" address.

SPRING HILL — Growing local businesses and improving city transportation in 2014 are two of the main goals Spring Hill leaders outlined in a "State of the City" address.

Mayor Rick Graham and City Administrator Victor Lay presented the address to members of the Spring Hill Chamber of Commerce Thursday at the Northfield Conference Center as part of the chamber’s monthly meeting. The address focused on planned development in the coming year, as well as the city’s accomplishments in 2013.

Graham highlighted some of the new businesses expected to open up in Spring Hill in 2014, including Dairy Queen, Rainbow Child Care Center, a new health care center and new car lot expected to open along Main Street. Graham said plans are also in the works for a new movie theater, Longhorn Steakhouse and Jonathan’s Grille near the Crossings and Saturn Parkway interchange, as well as a McDonald’s near Port Royal Road.

Graham said city officials are continuing to promote Spring Hill’s image to better market the area to new businesses. He said Spring Hill was the only city in Tennessee ranked by Money magazine in 2013 as one of the best cities or towns to live in with a population of less than 50,000. Graham added the city was also ranked by the Beacon Center of Tennessee as the most attractive city, ranked fifth in economic vitality and ranked fifth overall in the state in 2013.

"We care very much about our image, and we want to do a lot in that area coming up," Graham said.

To keep up with business growth, Graham said city leaders are looking into several road projects and meeting with Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization members and Tennessee Department of Transportation officials to move these plans forward.

"Our No. 1 priority is the new interstate interchange," Graham said. "We really need this interchange as about 78 percent of Spring Hill driving folks could get off at Buckner Road instead of having to go down Main Street. We could possibly have this in five or six years."

Graham said TDOT’s limited budget shot down suggested plans of widening U.S. Highway 31, leaving the interstate interchange as a possible solution to local traffic woes.

Other small road projects Graham said the city is planning include a connection road between Walmart and Publix and completing development on Commonwealth Drive. Graham said the city also plans to crack down on speeders in neighborhoods.

"We will be writing these tickets not for revenue but as a matter of public safety," Graham said. "We are adjusting some speed limits on four or five different streets as well, including some roads in school zones. There may be some public backlash about this, but we are not trying to be a speed trap."

Lay said the city is also planning to add several new traffic lights in the coming months. He said lights are planned for the intersections of Miles Johnson Parkway and Highway 31, Port Royal Road and Duplex Road, Buckner Road and West Port Royal Road and Buckner Lane and Miles Johnson Parkway.

Parks and recreation will also be a focus in 2014. Lay said a new skate park built on Walnut Street is expected to open in March while plans continue for the development of Port Royal Park, including the fire station built near the property. He said the park is expected to include fields for football, soccer and baseball along with tennis courts, a splash pad and playgrounds.

Graham added the city is also working with Williamson County to develop more baseball fields on the north side of town.

"We are turning away 100 kids or more each year for Little League because of our need for baseball fields," Graham said.

Year in Review

While December sales taxes and local property taxes are still coming in, Graham said the city expects to see revenues increase for 2013 as a whole. He said the city budget has seen a $508,000 increase over last year while expenditures from city departments "stay on trend."

"We are very well off financially right now," he said. "We have more than $12 million in our fund balance right now while a few years ago we were $3 million in the red. Our general fund is at $1 million better today than it was last year."

Lay added the city has averaged $50,000 more a month than anticipated in sales tax revenues since July 2013. He said sales tax revenues have grown since 1995, even during economic downturns.

Lay said the city is still waiting to see how the new Walmart on the Williamson County side affects revenues.

"We are hoping that Walmart will not be stealing or robbing from other local businesses, but instead stopping the leakage of local dollars going to Walmarts in Franklin and Columbia," he said.

Building permits are also increasing for the first time since 2009. Graham said the city issued 507 permits in 2013 — the most the city has issued in a year since 2008.

However, Lay said some of the most surprising growth numbers for the city came from the library. He said the public library in Spring Hill had 27,000 registered patrons and 127,000 visitors in 2013 alone.

"Our librarian tells me the average library is doing very well if it gets 50 percent of its population as registered," Lay said. "We have about 75 percent of our population patronizing the library."

Lay said the library also circulated 250,000 items in 2013 at an average of 86 library items circulated per hour. He said the library is increasingly becoming "a community hub," offering a variety of activities.